In Loving Memory
by xoleil
Summary: Yami's final goodbye to his hikari. Selfexplanatory oneshot. Could be interpreted with or without pairing.


_A/N: Umm… Crossroads will be updated… soon.  Read my lookup for further details._

_Disclaimer: I own none of the characters I use in this fanfiction._

_Italics: _**flashbacks**

/**Yugi**** to Yami/**

//**Yami**** to Yugi//**

*

**_In Loving Memory_**

*

A strange looking boy walked through the cemetery, his sights set on only one grave.  Tears falling silently from his eyes, he came upon it.  "Aibou…"

He fell to his knees on the freshly covered tomb that held the boy that had been his only friend for many years.  Tears fell unchecked down his sharp features, contorted with grief.

*

_"Are you all right, aibou?  You look flushed…" The darker half looked at his light with concern, then sat down beside him._

_The boy looked up at his yami with a small smile on his face.  "I'm fine." The bench they sat upon shook with a small tremor as he coughed, "Just… caught a light cold, I'm afraid." He grinned suddenly and ran to join his friends in the park, yelling for his yami to follow._

*

He whispered to his fallen half, "Why… you should have _told me.  You don't need to do everything so I'm always happy.  I'm happy when you're happy… you've done so much for me…" A sob shook his body, "Without you, I would never have had the chance to make friends of ancient rivalries and get a body of my own.  I wouldn't have had the chance to __live again.  And you're gone."_

*

_"Aibou.__  Aibou!  Wake up!" the taller version of the boy lying prone in the bed shook his aibou gently, fear evident in his voice, "You're running a fever, why didn't you say anything?  No one would hold it against you if you took one day off…"_

_The younger boy didn't move, but the temperature on the thermometer still rose steadily.  His yami picked him up nimbly and carried him downstairs and lay him on the couch._

_"So… cold…" the younger boy's whisper carried to his yami who was frantically searching for something to lower his fever.  The older boy handed his aibou a pain reliever and water, then tenderly covered his shivering form._

_"I'll always be there, aibou."_

*

"I'm sorry I wasn't here yesterday.  Jou said it was a beautiful ceremony.  Everyone had something good to say about you.  I couldn't even get out of bed.  I didn't believe it, you've always been there."

*

_"How did you let him go so long without medical attention?!"__ The doctor shouted at him.  "He may **die** because of his lack of medication.  You're his guardian?"_

_"Yes… for now, at least.__  He won't die, will he?"_

_As his eyes met her brown ones, she looked away, "We don't know yet.  He's very sick."_

*

"I should've been there.  It was my fault.  You always neglected your own safety for your friends, I should have seen through it and gotten you to a doctor." A heavy rain started suddenly on the cemetery and the tears on the boy's cheeks melded with the droplets as they fell.

His whisper went unheard as he looked toward the heavens, "Why?"

*

_A gentle shake on his shoulder woke the boy from his vigil in the hospital waiting room._

_"He wants to talk to you." The doctor wiped a tear from her eye, "His lungs are weak from pneumonia.  I'm afraid he won't last the night… but he's awake now."_

_He walked in to the stark white room to see his aibou's pale form contrasting awkwardly with the colorless sheets._

_"Yami, I'm sorry.  I shouldn't have gone out in the rain.  I should've listened.  I'm sorry."  Tears fell down his soft features, and the darker half moved closer to his light._

_"Aibou, it's not your fault.  I knew you wouldn't listen, but I never thought this would happen." A single tear slipped down his face, but his eyes threatened to release more at any moment. "I'm the one that didn't pay attention.  I should have **known you were sick."**_

_"Stop it, Yami." The sickly boy's voice was strong, "We can't go back in time and fix it.  It's too late.  And it's not your fault.  We have no control of fate… you of all people should know that." He closed his eyes after those final words and fell into a deep slumber, one from which he would never awaken._

_In the harsh silence of the hospital room, his yami whispered to the lifeless form in front of him, "But that doesn't stop me from wanting to."_

*

The rain began to let up, and the boy with strange hair picked himself up off the ground.  It seemed he realized what his hikari wanted him to realize.  He didn't feel guilt, only pain at the loss of his former host, duelist, and friend.  He took one last painful look at the grave that marked the body of who had once been the only important person in his life.

_In loving memory of Yugi Motou,_

_may__ he live on through memory and remain forever young._

*

_Fin._

_Yes, I realize it's short.  Tough monkeys._

_Press the review button.  Now._


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